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Roberts update (with Koji update)

Brian Roberts has been cleared by Dr. Lewis Riley, the back specialist at Johns Hopkins, to begin performing baseball-related activities today.

Roberts, who received an epidural from Riley on Monday, was preparing to take the field and run, throw, field some grounders and hit off a tee.

Roberts said he can't really notice much of a difference in his back without attempting these activites.

"Not too much. Maybe a little bit," he said. "My main test is going to be baseball activities."

Roberts consulted with Riley yesterday after allowing the injection to take effect.

"We just agreed on the program I'd start and try it for a couple days," he said. "I'll do a little bit of everything. Nothing too crazy yet. A little bit of moving around and running, field a ground ball or two, try to hit off a tee. Progress from there for a few days.

"I should know something in three or four days."

Asked if it's important to team chemistry for him to get back in the lineup, Roberts said, "It's not like basketball or football where you've got to know where everyone's going and routes and plays or anything like that. Maybe the biggest thing would be the guy hitting behind you, but Jonesy (Adam Jones) has done that for a year, so I don't think it's too big of a deal."

The offense is different without Roberts. It tends to bog down when its leadoff hitter is absent.

"I haven't seen us play much," he said. "I don't know what our issues have been or if we've had them. I don't think anybody's panicking over what's happening in spring training. I know we probably haven't won as many games as you'd like, but most important is probably the last week or 10 days, start to play a little bit better baseball, and your starting guys who will be in your rotation will hopefully start to go deeper in games and you'll see them start to throw the ball a little better, and you get your starting lineup in there together and start to score a few more runs."

Koji update: Koji Uehara will attempt to play catch tomorrow, but he's not sure when he'll return to the mound. He said his left leg didn't bother him when he's walking. Team officials aren't showing any concern about his hamstring and don't believe it's the same injury that cropped up last year.